


Hair Match

by The_Gay_Satan



Category: Professional Wrestling
Genre: Brotherly Affection, Gen, Head Shaving, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Non-Sexual Intimacy, The inherent intimacy of a hair match ending, Vulnerability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 11:40:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20425373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Gay_Satan/pseuds/The_Gay_Satan
Summary: Two brothers inevitably get pitted against each other. Some things are lost but not everything.





	Hair Match

**Author's Note:**

> Hey if you've clicked this thanks! I'm mostly posting so I can keep this writing saved, but if folks are interested? Rad! These boys are my wrestling OCs Umeboshi and Shiso. They're a tag team called The Sauce and sometimes they fight each other too for the drama of it all.

There’s a certain reverence in the way Shiso takes hold of Ume’s hair. An acknowledgement that he’s about to take a piece of somebody, one that’s always been there. There’s a hush around them despite the chaos, the center of the ring like the eye of a hurricane. Two trainees hold Ume in place on the chair that’s been set up despite him not fighting back yet. His hair cascades like water, veiling his face with how he slumps forward. The purple strands are so long the ends nearly reach the mat now that they aren’t tied back. It’s the moment of peace they both take to process what’s about to happen. A breath swells between Shiso and Umeboshi, releasing as Ume feels the fingers sliding up against his scalp. He jerks away for the show of it, gives the crowd what they want despite fully accepting what is to come. Shiso grabs his hair harder and pulls his head back. Purple streaks whip back to drape over the chair.Ume lashes and snarls, lunges to try and bite Shiso. The crowd boos his perceived attempts to escape his fate, his punishment for losing. The crowd hates a sore loser, but they’re so much sweeter to watch go down. Most of them are too excited paying attention to the show to see how Ume’s eyes never leave Shiso’s as he thrashes. Not a single one will know what really happens in that moment.

Ume can feel the hand on his head soften as the noise of the crowd blurs around them. Shiso watches Ume’s face relax just barely and he pushes the button on the cheap electric clippers picked up from the store that day. Ume locks onto the buzz past all of the voices. He’s never been one to be scared, and he’s not sure that’s the exact feeling he has right now, but his heart pounds in his chest. Maybe it’s the anticipation as the clippers near his face or maybe it’s the vulnerability. Just as the first hairs come off Ume feels the comforting swipe of Shiso’s thumb along the nape of his neck. His thrashing stops but he keeps his eyes locked on Shiso. There’s a part of him that wants to reach out and hold onto him as this happens. Keep his brother so dearly close as it feels like layers of himself are shaved away. He’d always had long hair as long as either could remember. One of the physical things that had always stayed the same despite everything. Shiso has watched as Ume’s collection of scars grew, hair colour changed, as needles put ink and metal alike in his skin. It feels right for it to be him to change Ume this time.

Cheers rumble through the room as more hair falls onto the mat. The shoddy clipper blades pull and snag on the too long strands, but slowly a new Ume, long in the works, emerges. There’s a moment he thinks there might be tears running down his face, but under the hot lights he can’t be sure. If there are they’re wiped away quickly by Shiso clutching his cheek to move his head down. He must have been with how Shiso is sure to keep his face from view. Ume can feel the air move through the stubble at the crown of his head. The crowd can’t see it but his hand finds Shiso’s leg. He can’t remember the last time he felt so overwhelmed and yet with each buzz of the clippers against his scalp there’s weight lifted from him. The release of the inevitable finally happening. It was inevitable they’d be pitted against each other eventually and it was inevitable after much discussion that Ume would lose.

“People love to see a wild thing tamed.”

The words come back to him as he feels the last of the back of his head cut down. Some distant part of him hears the clippers click off and hit the mat. Shiso pulls him up out of the chair by the sideburns left long on either side of his head. On trained instinct he clutches his arm to keep the better part of the strain off his scalp as he’s forced up. He hears Shiso speaking into the mic thrust into his free hand, but Ume doesn’t process a word of it as he’s held up for show. He can just make out the howls as he’s lain bare before the audience. The get what they came for, just for one night. He plays broken, crumpling to his knees in front of them as a fistful long purple strands is thrown at the front row in victory. They have to see he’s not too broken though.

From his spot on the ground he grabs Shiso’s ankle and yanks him down. Boos erupt as he hauls himself up and puts a boot down hard next to Shiso’s face. Ume steps over and kicks back at Shiso's head too soft to be anything more than an insult. There’s no word to the heated crowd as he makes his way to the back. When Shiso eventually comes back to the locker room Ume is looking himself over in the mirror. Shiso comes up behind him and lets his scruffy chin rest on Ume’s scruffy head. “Y’okay? Didn’t expect the waterworks.” It’s a playful jab, but the question is genuine.

“I didn’t either.” Ume smiles a bit sheepish at him in the mirror. He flings a playful elbow back to hit Shiso’s side. “Maybe there wouldn’t be if you got clippers instead of industrial tweezers huh? Don’t think they actually cut a single hair.” The worry between them fades. There’s an unspoken thankfulness to fight in their hometown again, it’ll be good to go home tonight.


End file.
